


Little Light

by impish_nature



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Journal 3 spoilers, just a bit of fluff, mullet stan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 10:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7842091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impish_nature/pseuds/impish_nature
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stan has an eventful meeting in the forest whilst searching for his brother’s missing journals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Light

**Author's Note:**

> Journal 3 spoilers! I haven’t read much but one of the first pages grabbed my attention and I had to write something before I continued reading! ♥ This was meant to be short but it got away from me as usual ^^;

_Oh god, what was I thinking?_

Stan bit his lip to stop the litany of curses that wanted to spring forth as he scurried breathlessly behind a tree. He shrunk himself down, clinging to the meagre bag of belongings he had brought with him as a lifeline to keep himself focused, trying to make sure that his bulky frame was well and truly hidden from view.

He waited for what felt like an age before taking in a shaky breath, eyes closing at the relief as his lungs flooding with the much needed oxygen. He paused again for a moment after before exhaling, waiting for something, anything to tell him that whatever _it_ was had heard him. But as the seconds ticked on he felt it safe to let the air out again, a trembling hiss to the motion as he pressed back deeper into the bark.

It took an even longer amount of time to pluck up the courage to peer around the tree, fearful whispering images plaguing him that any number of people out for his blood or opportunistic creatures could be standing just on the other side, waiting gleefully for him to give up this farce of hide and seek.

He squinted as he took the plunge, wincing slightly at the sudden change in lighting as his eyes tried to adjust against the darkness he had been encased in moments before. A soft glow filtered back at him, a warm orange glimmering that would be comforting and familiar if not so dreadfully out of place.

Not to mention his shoulder twinged, sharp and hot at the sight. His hand instantly moved to cup the still healing wound even as he swiftly crushed the sounds of his own screams and his brother’s apologies reverberating around his head in favour of keeping his wits about him in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

_Who on earth camps out in_ **these** _woods of all places? Don’t they know what’s out here?_

He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts, the bag and its contents thudding against his chest and reminding him that unlike everyone else out in this small weird little town he actually _did_ know what inhabited these woods. His brother’s journal was solid and unyielding in his bag but he kept it with him at all times. He’d already read it from cover to cover in the hopes of gleaning any information as to his whereabouts and how to bring him back but he read through the words again and again all the same, ever hopeful that one day a new spark of inspiration would hit him and he’d unlock the secret.

So far? No such luck.

And even with that knowledge he had still made the foolhardy decision to trek out into the middle of the woods.

…At night.

With a torch running out of batteries and minimal supplies.

_Well done, Stan. You know, I think this might just be your best idea yet._

A small huff of air left him as he glanced up at the night sky, just visible through the dense foliage. His mouth sloped downwards, tight and twisted as he stared at the twinkling calm stars with envy.

What he wouldn’t give for a peaceful night.

He shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the view before he slipped into unwelcome thoughts. He had much more pressing matters to think about.

Like the fact that Ford’s journal spoke of some kind of cult? The very reason there might be campers out here, unsuspecting of the dangers that lurked in the shadows. Memory erasure was not something he’d ever contemplated as a reality even if he had wished on a number of occasions that a few might disappear altogether and let him sleep already, or better yet at least not flash in front of him at the worst possible times. Yet now the thought of losing precious recollection of his brother’s plight sent him ice cold and shaking.

He couldn’t afford to lose them, not now, there was far too much he needed to _do_.

A crackle and a hiss made him lock up, hiding again as he waited for the tell-tale sound of footfalls that never came.

Either he was about to be bashed around the head by an equally fearful camper, or worse, he’d stumbled across a cult member who would probably still bash him round the head in a moment of panic and _then_ erase his memory for good measure.

Or the cult members were less spooked by the night and were completely at ease in their surroundings…and that made the outcomes all the more worse if he was discovered.

Anyone who wasn’t twitchy about being out in the heart of the forest in the middle of the witching hour was someone who, from his extensive experience, was not to be trifled with.

Either way, he didn’t like his chances of getting out of this predicament without some kind of bodily harm.

_How did you get yourself into this mess? Or more importantly how are you going to get yourself_ **out** _of this most probably life or death situation?_

Stan chuckled, the sound less than humorous and more of a derisive snort at his own waspishly snide thoughts.

_‘Cause we’ve never been in a situation like that before now have we, Stan?_

_In fact, I’d say we’d gotten pretty good at them._

A loud shuffling noise answered his half thought out laughter. He clamped a hand over his mouth as the shadows warped and twisted about him, the light moving ever closer and brighter as he tried to become one with the tree and prayed to any deity listening that whoever it was carried on passed him without noticing. The hissing spark of a voice lashed out at him again, more venomous than before as it dripped with sarcasm.

_Oh great. Well done, knucklehead! Just alert them to where you are! You just can’t keep that big mouth of yours shut can you-_

_Stop it. Now is not the time._

Stan grit his teeth, quelling the anger as the light got steadily closer, the crackling pop of the flames almost questioning as it neared even as the owner stayed deathly silent. He gulped at the implication, ghostly figures and ethereal creatures taking over his horrified imagination as he made the connection that though the glow came closer, no new shadows joined the trees around him.

And as the terror mounted, a switch flicked inside him. In response to the heat, his insides went cold, his mind calculating.

Now was not the time to be scared.

Now was the time to fight.

Now was the time to _think fast_.

His hand dove into his bag with minimal thought, grabbing the half-drunk water bottle inside before slinging the bag back over his shoulder. He twisted the cap off, staying behind the tree but turning towards the light, trying to make a rough guess as to where his would-be assailant might be as he prepared himself.

It might not hurt whoever or whatever it was, but getting a quick look at them and knocking out the light source could give him enough of an upper hand to get out of this relatively unscathed.

There wasn’t time to think, the persistent voice in his head that told him to think of the consequences first pushed to one side with minimal effort. He’d pulled this gamble more than once and what did you know? He was still alive and breathing to take the next.

He took one last deep breath before he jumped out, water splashing forward out of the bottle in a long arc that for the most part missed his ‘attacker’.

For one, he had thrown it far too high, falsely assuming that whoever it was, was roughly humanoid in size and shape.

For another, his idea to quickly assess his opponent and flee fell to the wayside as it took a few blinking moments to realise what he was actually seeing.

A loud sharp hiss tore through the air, the small creature before him rearing back as the water hit it. It scurried away from him, staying in sight but far out of reaching distance as it shook dolefully.

Stan didn’t really register the noise at first, too busy staring at what he could only describe as a sentient camp fire.

Considering his ability to get himself into and out of trouble with his silver tongue, the creature’s feat of leaving him wordless just by existing did not go unnoticed. The shock was dulled somewhat though. Since having stumbled across this funny little town and Ford’s journal of ‘anomalies’, he wasn’t as perturbed as he felt he probably should be by a sparking little creature made primarily of flames.

He snapped out of the moment, blank mind turning into a muddle of thoughts as he took a slow step out from behind his tree. The creature flinched at the movement, shrinking back further into the little nook it had found itself as it hissed continuously at him.

A twinge of regret sparked up in Stan’s heart.

It was a struggle to realise that the hissing spitting of a fire could sound sad and pained, maybe even a tad defensive. He took another cautious step, this time back away from the creature as he tried to regulate his thoughts, mind scrambling for answers he couldn’t exactly give. Whatever he had come across wasn’t trying to hurt him, he should just leave it be.

The thoughts vanished as the creature followed his movements carefully, dark sooty eyes in amongst the fire tracing all his actions as it obviously thought through its fight or flight options. He winced, the new view of the creature showing a chunk no longer burning bright like the rest of its body. The ‘wound’ arched across one side and with a little pulse of guilt it sunk in that he had caused it, the near empty water bottle dropping from his hand now less of a distraction and more of a weapon. “Shi- hold on. Let me fix that.” He nodded to himself, glancing around wildly for a few seconds.

_It’s a fire, right? Same rules should still apply._

He nodded again, scooping up an armful of twigs and leaves before moving back towards the little creature.

It hissed again, making him stop in his tracks. He couldn’t stop the weirdly disconcerting image of a cat fluffing up from entering his head when it moved, beady black eyes glaring at him, flames spreading up and outwards, though not quite hiding the doused area.

“Heh, guess you don’t wanna come near the person who doused you, right? That’s fair.” Stan sat down in the middle of the clearing, dropping the pile of items in front of him before observing the creature again, both waiting and observing unwaveringly. He smiled reassuringly before he took one of the twigs and threw it closer to the creature.

“Come on, little guy.” He beamed when the creature regarded him for a few more tense moments before it finally took a step forward and grabbed what Stan had thrown. He watched in unabashed curiosity as the twig burned slowly, sinking into its body without any trouble. “That’s it.” He threw a few more items, each one closer than before and elatedly watched as the creature followed the food in quick shuffling steps. He raised an eyebrow at the hiss and spit that emanated from it though as it scrutinised his gifts, almost seeming reproachful at what he had to offer. “What? Not good enough for ya? Well how about we get you burning again and then I’ll look for something a bit tastier?”

Stan shook his head at his own words in bemusement, a small amount of reasoning invading his senses as he stood up again and had another quick skirt of the area for a good source of fuel.

_What do you know about this kind of thing? You think it’s just going to tell you what it likes and dislikes? It’s a fire, for crying out loud._

His eyes lit up, all reasonable thought forgotten as a bush full of berries came into view, just out of the fire’s range of light. He had no idea what they were or if they were edible to him, but he didn’t see the harm in offering some up to the little guy as a better apology for accidentally hurting it earlier.

“How about these?” He threw one over, bursting into quick chuckles as it hit the fire’s small stump of a foot and it jumped a foot in the air in response. “Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to hit you.” He carried on giggling as the creature’s eyes narrowed at him reprovingly before catching sight of what he’d thrown and leaping on it with a crackle. “Gonna take that as a yes.”

He took his time getting back over, making sure not to drop his precious cargo until he was a few feet away, where he let them fall into a small pile. The sentient fire pounced on them only a few moments after he had taken a small step back. “Wow, definitely then. Does that mean I’m forgiven?”

A long drawn out sizzling was all he got in response.

If he didn’t know better, he’d almost say it sounded like purring.

“I’ll take that as another resounding yes.” Stan grinned, groaning as he sat down only a few small steps from the creature who now seemed utterly unperturbed by his presence. He took another quick calculating look, glad to see the wet spaces were slowly drying out, fire flickering in soft small sparks across the wound he had caused. A sigh of relief escaped him at the knowledge. The small creature looked up at the noise, almost curious at his sudden interruption. Stan huffed, glaring pointedly back at the inquisitive stare even as his eyes watered and black spots danced across his vision from staring at the bright light source for too long. “What? It’s not like I cared or anything.”

There was a pregnant pause, one that irked Stan as the creature continued to stare at him unblinkingly. He couldn’t help but think the small creature was amused by his sudden gruff outburst.

The moment vanished though. The food too great a temptation to resist for the creature to carry on the staring match and Stan found himself slowly relaxing beside the small soft glow and the familiar snapping sounds of a popping fire.

Stan hummed thoughtfully as his mind turned over the information once again, eyes flitting over the fire and itching to continue engaging it.

“Well, I didn’t see you in Ford’s weird and wonderful book.” Stan leant forward, smiling slightly at the warmth that flowed over him as he did so. His efforts to feed the fire seemed to have helped the heat flooding off of it in waves. “Does that mean I found something he never did?” His hands tapped against his knees as he sat there, scrutinising the still gnawing creature. “Then again you can’t exactly hide yourself all that well can you…but he did seem quite paranoid when I met him, probably wouldn’t approach a campfire, now would he?”

He waited for a few moments, mind full of all the new ticking thoughts. Proud small wonders of possibly having discovered something his brother hadn’t, mixed with the trepidation of just how paranoid his brother must have gotten to not accidentally stumble across one of these.

A loud pop brought him back to earth with a thump. He sighed, sitting back on his heels as he rubbed a hand through his hair. “What am I doing? Why am I talking to you, hey? It’s not like you’re gonna answer me, is it?”

Other than another small sizzle, the creature ignored him in favour of its food source.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

Stan groaned, pushing off the ground and dusting himself off as he stood up. This wouldn’t do, he had Ford’s other journals to find, that’s why he’d come out here. He was wasting time now, and the more he dallied the more chance he’d be out here day after day, night after night hunting for the damn things.

He really needed to get on, make some progress at the very least.

He groaned again, this time more heartfelt and hopeless. Who was he kidding? Everything looked the same. It could take him years to map out this entire forest. All he could really do was hope that for just once in his life lady luck would be on his side. A small voice reminded him that he was still alive however and maybe he’d used up all of his favours with lady luck when she let him survive narrower and narrower escapes.

He pulled his bag back up around him, the heaviness of it grounding him once again. Luck or not, sheer necessity to bring his brother won out and he found himself filled with a new sudden determination about his whole ordeal. He grabbed the bottle back from the ground, wincing slightly at the amount he’d wasted before throwing it back in his bag. “Every little helps.” He caught sight of the small chocolate bar at the bottom of the bag as he did so, stomach growling in the sudden realisation that he couldn’t actually recall _when_ he had last eaten.

He bit his lip, crunching numbers under his breath. A while ago he had brought a load of almost out of date food based on the reduced prices but that had _really_ been a while ago. Not to mention he knew for a fact what money he had left on him wouldn’t buy him much.

Ford’s kitchen hadn’t all that stocked either. He carried on listing all the things available once he made it home and knew that if he wasn’t extra careful then he’d have start stealing again and he really couldn’t get run out of this little town this time.

His stomach rumbled again as he debated all this, brushing away a lot of the thoughts with the pressing matter at hand.

One, he had to actually make it through this trip with enough energy to look after himself in case the next creature wasn’t as friendly and two, as much as stealing would put his position here in jeopardy if worst came to worst he’d have to do it.

Otherwise he wouldn’t have the strength to rebuild the portal and all this would be for naught anyway.

“Every little helps.” Stan muttered to himself, his stomach seeming happy with his response as he grabbed it.

As soon as the packet opened though, he found a new distraction to all his worries. The small fire seemed to smell it before he did and he couldn’t help but watch in bemusement as the creature scuttled to and fro before him, as if it had realised Stan was about to give it a treat.

“What, you little scamp, you want some of this?” Stan tried to surreptitiously and carefully nudge it out of the way as it scampered around his feet. “Go on, off with ya. This is my food.” He sighed as the small creature wriggled in front of him, refusing to budge an inch, a crackling pop almost like a chirp echoing back at him. He glared at it, feeling his resolve slowly weaken under its stare.

He always _had_ had a thing about helping strays.

“Well I guess I do owe you an apology…”

Stan gave a bone weary sigh as his conscience won out above his screaming thoughts and he pulled off the tiniest corner of the bar to feed to the bouncily waiting creature.

To be fair the echoing crackle like a firework had gone off as the small piece fell into the hungry flames did feel worth it. Especially when he realised with a happy lurch that the fire had no patches to it anymore. “Alright then, looks like I’m all clear of ya now doesn’t it. No scamming me, you hear? I can see you’re all better now.” He bit a chunk off himself as he stepped around the still munching creature, slipping back on his journey.

Until he heard the unmistakable pitter patter of crunching leaves.

He turned at the sound, frowning downwards as he watched the fire trot slowly over to him before sitting down again.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

The creature jumped up at the sound as if Stan had given it his approval, gleefully jumping ahead to dart around the trees as if it was happy to be of service, happy to be his leading light on the path he had chosen. When Stan didn’t move forward it scurried back, sitting obediently by his side as if waiting for him to choose which route he was taking.

Stan’s response probably wasn’t what it had had in mind.

He stumbled away from it, shaking his head as his hands waved rapidly in front of him.

“No, no, no, no. _No_.” Stan glared down at the inquisitive little fire that came forward at his words. “Nope, this is where we go our separate ways, little buddy. You go scamper off into the forest and do…whatever it is that you do best, you hear?” Stan put his hands on his hips as the creature took to again bounding around his feet, ignoring every word. He pointed out away from him, the creature pausing so that its eyes could follow the finger. “Go on. Off with ya.”

He ran a hand over his face as the creature sat down, small legs folding underneath it in response. “Oh for the love of- I don’t need you hanging about. It’s not like I’m lost-” _Wait which way_ **did** _I come from?_ “Or like I even need a source of light! I got one of them!” Stan fished the torch back out of his pocket, flicking the switch with a self-satisfied expression.

A small ring of light lit up the darkness to the side of them both, dim and barely visible against the warm glow of the clearing but Stan was sure it would get the job done once he was on his own again.

The creature wasn’t impressed.

Stan was sure the new crackling sound was laughter as the creature shook slightly. “Yeah well it’s worked well enough for this long-”

The torch took that inopportune moment to flicker on him.

The crackling sound grew louder.

“Alright, alright, it’s not the best.” Stan’s mouth tweaked upwards, eyes now more open and accepting as he looked back down at the creature that was practically vibrating where it stood with the force of its mirth. “Looks like I’m not getting rid of you just yet then, doesn’t it?” The fire sprang back up, winding around his legs as it sizzled away. “Oi, stop that, if I catch light there’ll be hell to pay.”

Stan stretched, snorting when the fire followed the hand that had the half eaten chocolate bar in it. “Oh, I see, it’s cupboard love, is it? You wanna come with me because there’s a promise of good food, is that it?”

He raised an eyebrow as the creature turned this way and that along with his moving hand. He gave a short burst of laughter, dropping another small piece for the creature before continuing on his journey, not really phased if the small companion he’d befriended actually came with him or not.

Or so he told himself. He knew he’d be slightly disappointed if that was it over and done with.

It was only a few seconds later when his shadow started to wobble and sway, the small creature scurrying back up beside him.

Stan let out a small noise of appreciation at the circle of light, head trailing down to look at the small creature. A soft smile spread across his face as it scampered in quick darting steps to keep up with his long stride. It paused when it noticed his eyes on him.

It almost felt like it was questioning him.

Stan chuckled, shaking his head before looking forward again, his journey through the forest seeming less daunting now.

“Alright, little light, I guess I wouldn’t mind some company all that much.”

**Author's Note:**

> I started using ‘little light’ as a term of endearment a while back and it’s stuck and it’s cute and noone can stop me >8D  
> Also I hope you liked this! Just some lighthearted fluff to make up for some things I’ve written recently haha!
> 
> The little light is a Scampfire and if you haven't realised - I want about 10 of them ♥ and I want Stan to have one looking after him at least.


End file.
